Comments
I first visited London’s Columbia Road flower market in 2000 and was instantly struck by the atmospheric stalls bursting with every imaginable kind of bloom, the pretty shops with garden accessories lining the street, and the cosy cafés serving cream teas and cake. That was in autumn. Winter, I thought, would offer sparser pickings. But no. As part of the very hip East End, and as the only weekly street flower market in the UK, it was business as usual there.
Every Sunday, I found crowds of hipsters, whose appearance and mannerisms I enjoyed observing as much as listening to the stall owners’ patter, and discovering new local and international varieties such as amaryllis, eucalyptus fronds, and pussy willow. Of course, like all good days, this too ended with eating scones and drinking tea in the back room of a vintage store, the quintessentially British Cake Hole café.
Nishat Fatima is an author and photographer based in Hyderabad
Wallflower: As colourful as the flowers is the mosaic on the local primary school’s wall. Created by schoolchildren, the work was completed in 1988 and depicts scenes in and around the area
Yellow fever: Out-of-season daffodils go on sale in January, just another nod to climate change
Brown study: Hipster street style is on full display at the flower market
Accessories report: The stores along Columbia Road sell all manner of flower and plant accessories, from vases to planters and garden ornaments
Adding up: Beyond flowers, bulbs, seeds and pots, on Sundays, Columbia Road also has a pop-up flea market where clothes, glass and sculpture vie for attention
Comments
COMMents
SHARE